While I’d hate to stumble on a real body under any circumstances, I have a thing about noticing the “perfect” locations for finding mythical bodies. In order not to waste this fascinating (and hopefully, unusual) skill, I decided to write mysteries.
Mysteries have been my books of choice since I discovered Trixie Belden (I owned every book) and other teen detectives. Later, I discovered and devoured the work of Erle Stanley Gardner, John Creasey, Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, Desmond Bagley, Raymond Chandler, Emma Lathen, and many others.
I still go back and reread many of the authors of the British Golden Age—they’re my comfort-books. I also read a variety of contemporary authors, including Donna Andrews, Louise Penny, Alan Bradley, Sue Grafton, Peter Robinson, Rick Blechta, Vicki Delany, P. D. James, Marcia Muller, and T. Jefferson Parker.
I’ve taught workshops for writers. I especially enjoy sharing some of my secrets on developing plots. (One of my favorite reviews, from Library Journal, called me a “master of plotting.”)
I’m currently working on the fifth Manziuk and Ryan mystery, and other ideas are simmering in my brain at the same time.
I’m a member of a number of organizations for writers, including Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime.
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Because I read mysteries. Can’t even hazard a guess at how many I’ve read over the years, but I’m thinking in the tens of thousands might not be far off.
I started writing mysteries as short stories when I was in school. Unfortunately, my teachers weren’t overly impressed.
I began a novel when I was 12. It turned out to be a lot of work. (I was writing by hand back there, and my writing wasn’t all that great. Plus my hand cramped.)
Shaded Light
It was a day or two after Christmas in 1983. My three sons were all in the basement playing with their new toys. My husband and I were sitting in our family room reading. He had the newspaper. I was kind of skimming the last part of a mystery from my library that wasn’t very good. When I came to the last page, I kind of threw it on the carpet, and said, “I could do better than that!”
My always helpful husband said, “Why don’t you then?”
For some reason, I went and got a notebook, and started brainstorming ideas.
Strangely enough, I already had an idea for the setting. Some years before, we’d been in a Japanese garden in Vancouver with our kids, who were then pretty young. As we crossed a little bridge over a gurgling stream, and came around a corner, I looked over at a beautiful bush, and thought, “That would be a good place to find a body. ”
So now, all I did was figure out whose body it was, and where the garden was, and I was away!
An author friend of mine connected me with St. Kitts Press, and they published it in hardcover in January of 2000.
Yep. 17 years. And then overnight success. 🙂
I started Glitter of Diamonds in 1999, and it was published in 2007, so I cut the time in half.
What wasn’t I doing? Raising four sons, homeschooling, starting a national writers organization, directing a writing conference and teaching all over the place, writing five novels and 3 nonfiction books for teens, and a whole bunch of other things.
I started Shadow of a Butterfly in 2009, and it came out in May, 2015. So, slightly better timing. But my kids were grown by then.
The Case of the Homeless Pup is actually a novella, so about 40,000 words as opposed to the usual 125,000. I wrote it in the early months of 2016 and it was published in June of that year. Way better with respect to speed!
I actually have three more books begun. Still debating which will be next. Working titles: Neon Nights, Candles End, Fluorescent Blaze. I have a couple of short stories I’m working on, too. However, I’ve also been very busy with some other projects under my other (real) name.
It was my birth name, Janice Alana Menzies. I’d always known I was adopted, but I only learned what my original name was when I became older. I’m actually working on a book about that.
Long story, but because I write in a number of genres, I’ve often wished I’d written my mysteries under a pseudonym. It’s been way too confusing for a lot of people, including myself. I know it’s crazy to change in the middle of the game as it were, but after a great deal of thought and one middle of the night Ah Ha! experience, before Shadow of a Butterfly was published, I decided better late than never.
What this means is that my two existing Manziuk and Ryan mysteries were republished under my new name, and any other mystery novels or short stories will be under this name.
That leaves me writing my teen books and personal stories, as well as editing my Hot Apple Cider anthologies, under my actual name, N. J. Lindquist.
My fantasy novel is under Alana Menzies.
Hope you aren’t too confused. It’s actually been a huge relief to me.
If you enjoyed reading one of my books, have a question, or would like to invite me to speak, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at JA@Jamenzies.com
Mailing address: Box 77001, Markham, ON, L3P 0C8